This invention relates generally to the storage of information and to credit cards, as well as to software applications serviced by these cards. The credit card is ubiquitous and almost every wallet contains two, and often more cards. This invention provides a method by which a large storage volume can be offered on such a card, providing greater versatility and functionality to a common and useful device, for example, sufficient memory to store an entire feature film on each card.
Prior art teaches the fabrication of a card with a PVC plastic substrate and artwork laminated to and/or printed on to the front face, and minimal (a magnetic strip) or no storage. Lettering is embossed on the card, and space provided on the back for a specimen signature. All transactions have the backing of a reputable financial institution. A remote infra-structure requires the merchants to call for authorization of charges. The financial institution gives the card holder credit to cover these transactions, and maintains an organization for billing, transaction verification and fraud control. In the United States long distance telephone calls are economical, so a card with a magnetic strip on the back, containing about 140 bytes of information has become popular. The user or the merchant swipes the card on a reader, enters a PIN code and a dollar amount of the transaction. The resulting information is then transmitted via modem or a network to a remote site for authorization. The limited storage available on these cards, however, is not sufficient to reduce or eliminate the complex, remote infra-structure or the cost to process each transaction. In Europe and other countries where telephone services are expensive, a unique card known as a Smart Card has become popular.
The Smart Card comes in a variety of configurations, some with integrated circuit memory of about 1 to 8 Kbytes and others with an additional integrated circuit on the card to manipulate the on-board memory. The maximum storage offered in these cards is 32 Kbytes, which was the same amount of on-board memory available on a PC when it first shipped in the early 1980s. The PC, however, required an external floppy drive with 150K bytes of replaceable volume to become a useful appliance. Smart Cards, possibly for the lack of sufficient memory, have not been widely accepted by the consumer in the United States.
Optical memory cards such as those taught by U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,199,761; 5,932,865; 6,120,907 and others, consist of an optical recording media bonded to the surface of the card. Such optical cards require a unique reader, now costing more than $2,000. Each optical card had a maximum storage capacity of 4.9M Bytes. In view of their greater memory, these cards have found niche applications, but the high cost of implementation has limited their popularity.
Other prior approaches, such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,131,816 and 5,107,099, teach a unique magnetic strip made from stainless steel and sputter coated with high coercivity magnetic films and laminated in the card. The design of a special purpose reader is also taught, which removes this strip and installs it on a reciprocating table where a magnetic recording head is utilized to read and write data to and from the strip. That patent states that a large storage capacity could be attained on each card, however, the card reader is unique and expensive, similar in characteristics to the optical card, and requires the development of a significant infra-structure to support such a system.
Prior art also teaches the design of special purpose magnetic and optical storage products that record and read data back from unique mediums, such as floppy disk drives, ZIP disk drives, hard disk cartridge drives, CD-R/W and DVD-RAM products. All these devices require the use of a recording medium that is larger, and thicker than a Credit card, and consequently, do not offer the convenience of being able to be slipped into a wallet for easy transportation. None of these approaches provide a compact reader for reading credit card sized cards that include a rotating magnetic memory, such as a floppy disk.
Cards containing large storage volume can provide services that hereto required the maintenance of a significant infrastructure to control unauthorized access to data, to equipment, and to facilities. For example, an American Express Credit card, VISA or MasterCard adopting the invention herein can serve as a financial card, a personal wallet, a record keeper, a storage of favorite songs (with CD quality), a secure key to access confidential records at financial institutions or on the Internet, an electronic album with both still and video clips of family and friends, a complete set of personal medical records, and a host of other features. By virtue of the card, one does not need to remember a variety of passwords or personal identification pins (PINs) to access bank accounts. The card has all this data, and furthermore, this data can be encrypted with a 512 bit or larger key to provide a high level of security.
Data storage is fundamental and can increase the versatility of the common credit card. Processing power can be located in the reading device or local on the card in a manner similar to the Smart Card. If the credit card will be used in equipment that contain a sophisticated processor, however, burdening the credit card with the added expense of a processor chip may not be necessary. This invention provides an economical reader for use with the credit cards so equipped. The reader complies with the industry standard PCMCIA interface and size. This enables it to be used with personal computers and laptops, which provide a host system. The reader may be implemented at low cost. The invention described herein focuses on the design of the reader for reading the cards. The cards are described in a co-pending U.S. patent application.